Industry Case: Building Materials Supplier
Strategic Environmental Planning & Due Diligence – All Planned Acquisitions

GaiaTech has performed environmental due diligence on a series of transactions for a major manufacturer and distributor of lumber and lumber products to the commercial construction sector.

Founded in 1995, our client has grown organically and through an active acquisition program that has entailed dozens of individual transactions. GaiaTech has provided environmental due diligence services on every acquisition the company has completed to date, including Phase I environmental site assessments (ESAs) and compliance assessments, and Phase II site investigations when necessary.

Typically, our client has focused on acquiring family-owned and operated businesses. For such transactions, therefore, not only does GaiaTech's environmental work have to be thorough, but we often have to address delicate issues relating to the target company's culture of compliance, its historical approach to environmental management, health and safety issues, and its current and past operational practices. All our evaluation work needs to be completed with the practices and demands of the corporate parent in mind.

GaiaTech also actively participates all closing discussions involving the purchase agreement, and especially in negotiations about how to quantify escrows or other negotiated withholdings for environmental liabilities.